Ocean Sentry
Last month was the hottest January on record over the world’s land and ocean surfaces, with average temperatures exceeding anything in the 141 years of data held by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
February, 2020
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14 February
Antarctic temperature rises above 20C for first time on record
The Antarctic has registered a temperature of more than 20C (68F) for the first time on record, prompting fears of climate instability in the world’s greatest repository of ice.
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13 February
New study shows Deepwater Horizon oil spill larger than previously thought
Toxic and invisible oil spread well beyond the known satellite footprint of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to a new study led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
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13 February
Global warming is speeding up Earth’s massive ocean currents
The oceans’ great continent-wrapping currents, each one moving as much water as all the world’s rivers combined, can rightly be considered the planet’s circulatory system. And this circulation, it appears, has started to thump faster: For nearly 25 years the currents have been rapidly speeding up, partly because of global …
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13 February
Research links sea ice retreat with tropical phenomena, including a new kind of El Niño
Two researchers present evidence today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the accelerating melt of Arctic sea ice is linked to weather patterns near the equator in the Pacific Ocean.
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11 February
Carbon dioxide reached a new high in humanity’s existence
It’s not surprising carbon dioxide levels hit a new daily high, but the new atmospheric record underscores the fact that carbon emissions are rising to new all-time highs when they need to be dropping.
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11 February
Noise pollution from ships may scare Arctic cod from feeding grounds
The noise of shipping vessels traveling through northern Canadian waters is causing Arctic cod to sacrifice much of their foraging and feeding in order to flee the area until ships move away, researchers report.
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11 February
Climate change is decimating the chinstrap penguins of Antarctica
Scientists conducting a chinstrap census along the Antarctic Peninsula have discovered drastic declines in many colonies, with some seeing population reductions of up to 77% since they were last surveyed, about 50 years ago.
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10 February
Global warming and extinction risk
How can fossils predict the consequences of climate change? A German research team from FAU, the Museum of Natural History Berlin and the Alfred Wegener Institute compared data from fossil and marine organisms living today to predict which groups of animals are most at risk from climate change.
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10 February
Antarctica hits warmest temperature ever recorded
The temperature in northern Antarctica hit nearly 65 degrees (18.3 degrees Celsius), a likely heat record on the continent best known for snow, ice and penguins.
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7 February
Amazon’s pink dolphins threatened by end of fishing ban
Prosecutors in Amazonas state, who asked for the catfish ban in 2015, warned then that as many as 2,500 dolphins were being killed each year for bait.
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7 February
Climate change is making it harder for polar bears to raise babies
In a new study published in Ecological Applications, researchers looked into all the ways polar bears are struggling to grow and reproduce because of a massive decline in the sea ice habitat they need to survive.